November 20, 2023 Observer Newsletter: 2023 Hall of Fame issue
The 2023 class of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame adds seven new members in a year where there were no blowaway vote-getters but a number of people who barely made it, and a few who came close.
The top vote-getters were Argentina Rocca & Miguel Perez, who one could make a strong case were the biggest drawing tag team in pro wrestling history. Rocca & Perez only had a few-year run on top, basically the extension of the Rocca era which started as a single. During their era tag team wrestling headlined Madison Square Garden almost every month, and drew large crowds and frequent sellouts.
While one can argue the Road Warriors were the top-drawing tag team ever due to a longer tenure and that they drew all over the world, I would make that argument, being No. 2 in history and the only tag team in history that was ever the No. 1 draw in the world (in both 1958 and 1959) to me made them a slam dunk no-brainer pick. They barely missed last year. I considered that a strong negative regarding voting and many felt, probably correctly, that it showed that his ballot wasn’t fair to people pre-1965 or 1970. But with Rocca & Perez and George Kidd getting in, it is getting better.
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Dave Meltzer is the founder and lead writer on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, the weekly constant when it comes to news and reviews in pro wrestling and mixed martial arts for more than 40 years. Dave also co-hosts Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and had had bylines for The National, Yahoo Sports, MMA Fighting and others.